After exploring Poland for four days, my final stop before flying home was a night at the Berlin airport hotel. So after dropping off my car, dumping my bags in my hotel room, it’s only 1730 (5pm), plenty of time to go into Berlin. So let’s head in.
Travel
The Berlin Brandenburg Airport is approximately 15 miles from central Berlin (destination dependent, of course), and – since I no longer have my car and don’t want to pay for an Uber – decided public transportation the best option to get into the city.
The basement of Terminal 1 has a railroad station for both S-Bahn and regional trains. I took S-Bahn inbound, regional outbound to Alexanderplatz.
Hint: regional trains stop less and are faster than S-Bahn but aren’t as frequent. S-Bahn was fifteen minutes slower between the airport and Alexanderplatz.
Unten Den Linden
I considered wandering around central Berlin until late evening or even early morning, but realistically I been driving all day – first around northwest Poland and then beeline back to airport – so knew I needed to limit myself to a couple of hours. I decided a walk from Alexanderplatz to the Brandenburg Gate via Unten den Linden would be fun before calling it a night.
Unten den Linden was torn up for the U-Bahn 5 extension during my previous trip, making it more difficult to admire the beauty on either side. The extension was completed in 2020 and Unten den Linden completely open, making for an enjoyable stroll to Brandenburg Gate.
Walked by the relatively-new and promising Cold War Museum, but too late to visit; ate at a Vietnamese Restaurant; returned to Alexanderplatz via U-5; regional train back to the airport. Ta da!
Final Thoughts
Even though much too quick, it reminded me I need to get back to Berlin. The city is steeped in history but is also a modern and constantly changing, well worth the time. Unfortunately, this was the last opportunity to visit the Pergamon Museum for over a decade, but there’s still plenty else to do/see/enjoy.
All images © 2023 Scott C. Sosna
